Should I develop my own marijuana on-demand app, or join an already established app?

Once your marijuana dispensary is established, you may find yourself torn between two different options – starting and developing your own on-demand app, or having your dispensary listed on an existing app. Naturally, there are pros and cons to both, and we’re going to take a look at all of the factors you should consider before making what could be a very important decision for your business.

Stand out from the rest

While it’s true that being listed on an already existing app is a good way to reach a larger customer base right away, the main issue is that it also increases the amount of potential competition that your dispensary will have. Think of it like this: if you’re listed on the Weedmaps app, for example, users will have to search through dozens, even hundreds of other dispensaries before possibly landing on yours. So while you’ll have a built-in base that uses the app, you’ll be competing with many other sellers. If you develop your own app, however, you’ll be the only option available for users, which in turn will bring you more business and customer loyalty.

Build and expand your brand

If your dispensary is listed on an already established app, you’re limited in how your listing and information appears. Realistically, the only information available to users will be your dispensary’s main information (address, a brief description, store hours, etc), as well as a list of your products and offerings. However, if you develop your own app, the sky’s the limit in how you want to market yourself to users. So while all of the aforementioned information will be important, you can also choose to do things like send push notification, embed links to YouTube videos or photos of your choosing, and many other features that will set your app apart from the rest.

Your app, your data

When you develop your own on-demand app, every transaction and piece of data that passes through it belongs to you, and only you. Being listed on someone else’s app can result in you not being privy to valuable data that can increase your business, and in certain cases, it could result in you losing business (if, for example, you decide to delist yourself from the app, the app owner may influence users to go to other dispensaries rather than yours). At the end of the day, you simply have more control over everything if you develop your own app.

Build rapport with your customer base

In our previous marijuana on-demand blog, we wrote about incorporating logic into your app that allows customers to view their transaction history and track their buying patterns. By doing this, you can send them push notifications with deals and reminders of their favourite marijuana strains or products, which will help to build rapport and loyalty. This is something that you simply can’t do if you are choosing to be listed on someone else’s on-demand app.

In closing

While there’s nothing necessarily wrong with choosing to be listed on an app like Weedmaps, the ideal route for building your business and your brand will always be developing your own. You simply will have more freedom and options that you can use to bring in more customers and ensure that your dispensary has a healthy stream of income.